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(HealthTech Wire / Interview) –Underlying the healthcare transformation is the change from a paper-based to a paperless healthcare delivery. An enterprise content management (ECM) system plays a crucial role in this as it creates a unique data repository for unstructured data that, just as electronic health records systems for structured data, contributes to better health outcomes and more efficient use of resources. Hyland’s Steve Rudland, Healthcare Practice Leader EMEA (‘SR’) and Dr Saif Abed (‘SA’), a Founding Partner at AbedGraham, which is a Hyland partner organisation, talk about how Hyland’s successful ECM solution OnBase helps hospitals on the digital transformation journey.

What is the essence of healthcare transformation with regards to the use of information technology?

SA: The term healthcare transformation describes the augmentation and optimisation of healthcare delivery processes in order to better manage increasingly complex patient populations. In the world of health IT this has become synonymous with the transition from paper-based to paperless processes. At a deeper level, healthcare transformation can be organised along three categories: people, paper and processes. What really matters is people, IT is just an enabler for the transformation.

SR: A successful healthcare transformation benefits everyone involved, primarily the patient but also the clinician and the provider’s finance and IT departments.

Which role plays ECM in the healthcare transformation?

SA: ECM is not just scanning and document archiving. ECM acts as a critical bridge between paper processes and fully digital processes. This can be especially important as healthcare organisations transition through major IT projects such as EHR implementations.

SR: ECM puts an end to dependence on paper. It enables the digitisation of any clinically relevant information in order to move it into a workflow from which it can be accessed as and when needed. This includes the replacement of paper forms with electronic ones and the capture of images and other unstructured information generated by medical devices.

Which benefits do ECM systems offer for hospitals?

SA: ECM offers many benefits:

• Improved patient safety and outcomes because complete clinical records can be available when needed.

• Healthcare providers can operate more efficiently in a more streamlined organisation, seeing more patients or having time for more complex cases.

• Saving on expenditures for managing and storing paper-based information in addition to costs for paper, printers and ink.

• Improved patient experience as more time to care can be given to patients by clinicians rather than spending a disproportionate of time using IT systems to find information.

• Creating a single platform improves clinical risk management as access to all clinical documents can be managed more efficiently and be more accessible supporting clinical decision making.

What makes OnBase stand out from its competitors?

SA: Hyland looks beyond technology; it looks at the clinical and business needs of healthcare organisations and frontline end-users. It measures and benchmarks hospitals’ clinical IT workflows, which is a very extensive exercise. Hyland is probably the sole ECM vendor with a team of multi-disciplinary clinical experts supporting its essential transformation activities.

SR: OnBase is the only leading system on the market that is a single platform solution from a single vendor. Because OnBase is written and owned entirely by Hyland, we are able to respond much faster to changes in our customers’ requirements in areas such as interoperability. Our interoperability enables documents and workflows managed by OnBase to be accessed directly from within clinical systems.

Which benefits do hospitals derive from using OnBase? What do IT departments and clinicians see as the main benefits?

SR: For hospitals, OnBase provides a single information repository for unstructured data that is valuable for clinical, financial and human resource purposes. It helps hospitals to use resources more efficiently and manage data more securely. One OnBase client in the UK reports annual savings of over £1 million for document management and storage. For an IT department, OnBase simplifies the implementation of information governance. It also helps to cut complexities as a healthcare provider only has to manage one partnership, instead of multiple vendor relationships. For clinicians, OnBase provides a single source of rich information, enabling images, forms, and documents to be accessed securely from almost any device.

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For over 20 years, Hyland Software has helped our more than 12.000 lifetime customers by providing real-world solutions to everyday business challenges. That dedication is why Hyland realizes double-digit growth year after year, and why 98 per cent of our customer base continues to renew its annual maintenance. Our customers see the ongoing value of partnering with Hyland and continue to work with us year after year.

Hyland’s enterprise content management (ECM) solution, OnBase, is one of the most flexible and comprehensive ECM products on the market today. OnBase empowers users to grow their solutions as needs change and business evolves. It is tailored for departments, but comprehensive for the enterprise, designed to give you what you need today and evolve with you over time.